Old Bridge, NJ - A group that promotes the swastika criticized a New Jersey school district for requiring counseling for an 8-year-old student of Hindu heritage who included the symbol in a holiday drawing. The International Raelian Movement, which believes humans were created by extraterrestrials, said the swastika is actually a symbol of peace and beauty that was corrupted by Nazis. The...

New York, NY - New York City yellow school buses are running this morning but the possibility of a strike still looms. Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union says the drivers won't walk out on Monday. They're trying to avert a strike. In the event of one, the city has contingency plans in place. Students would get MetroCards to get to school. If they're younger, a parent or guardian...

Washington - Heart disease and diabetes get all the attention, but what about the many other ways obesity can damage your health? Carrying too many pounds may lead to or worsen some types of cancer, arthritis, sleep apnea, even infertility. But a new poll suggests few Americans realize the links. Only about one-quarter of people think it's possible for someone to be very overweight and...

Washington - President Barack Obama's inaugural team is opening an online and brick-and-mortar store to sell souvenirs including a commemorative poster by famed artist Chuck Close. The Presidential Inaugural Committee launched the online store Thursday. A retail store a few blocks from the White House was scheduled to open Jan. 11. The goods, ranging from $2.50 rulers to $30 champagne flutes...

Middlesex County, NJ - A camp counselor from New Jersey has been charged in connection with a 12-year-old alleged indecent assault crime. Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 30, Director of the Chabad House of East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey stands accused of inappropriate contact with a minor male camper in 2001 at Camp Menachem in Pike County, Pennsylvania. Goodman’s alleged victim came...

Landover, MD - Russell Wilson raced ahead to throw the final block on Marshawn Lynch's go-ahead touchdown run, and the Seattle Seahawks finally had a victorious road show. Robert Griffin III's knee buckled as he tried to field a bad shotgun snap, leaving the Washington Redskins an offseason to worry about their franchise player's health. The last rookie quarterback standing in the NFL...

Las Vegas, NV - Dismayed that family members are spread out over the house, each with a separate PC or tablet? Lenovo has something it believes will get them back together: a PC the size of a coffee table that works like a gigantic tablet and lets four people use it at once. Lenovo Group Ltd., one of the world's largest PC makers, is calling the IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC the first...

Washington - Four years and one re-election after Barack Obama became America's first black president, some of the thrill is gone. Yes, the inauguration of a U.S. president is still a big deal. But the ceremony that Washington will stage in a few weeks won't be the heady, historic affair it was in 2009, when nearly 2 million people flocked to the National Mall to see Obama take the oath of...

Israel - Ten parties from across the political spectrum joined forces over the weekend in a letter to President Shimon Peres asking him to do whatever he can to bring about the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard. The parties, which have been fighting vigorously ahead of the January 22 election, found Pollard to be an issue that unites them. The parties who signed the letter were Likud...

Washington - President Barack Obama could seek common ground with Republicans in the looming battle over Medicare spending by broadening the debate over entitlement reform to encompass the spiraling healthcare costs that confront a wide range of Americans. In recent public remarks the president has identified the U.S. healthcare system's sky-high price tag - by far the highest in the world ...

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Trenton, NJ - At least two New Jersey school districts this week put armed police guards at the entrance to public schools in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school massacre. In Marlboro Township in central New Jersey's Monmouth County armed guards were on duty on Wednesday to check every child, teacher and visitor as they arrive and leave any of the district's eight schools, which...

Pasadena, CA - Makers of a Discovery network documentary on presidential chiefs of staff have a perfect participation record. All 19 living men who had that job gave interviews for "The Presidents' Gatekeepers." The four-hour documentary is expected to air in two parts early this summer. Filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet (naw-DAY) said Saturday that their well-regarded previous documentary...

New York - Two centuries after the passing of the first Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, worldwide gatherings, conferences and celebrations devoted to his life and legacy are a testament to the spiritual potency of his teachings. Hundreds of scholars and students of Jewish history, law and mysticism will be attending “Chabad: History, Philosophy, Image”—a three day...

Washington - The White House is weighing a far broader approach to curbing US gun violence than just reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. A working group led by Vice President Joseph Biden is seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for gun buyers and track the movement and sale of weapons...